Ben Roberts (rugby league)

Ben Roberts
Personal information
Full name Benjamin Tapuloa Roberts[1]
Born (1985-07-08) 8 July 1985
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height 173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 94 kg (14 st 11 lb)[2]
Playing information
Position Five-eighth, Halfback, Hooker, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2006–11 Canterbury Bulldogs 93 10 0 1 41
2012–13 Parramatta Eels 37 2 1 0 10
2014 Melbourne Storm 18 2 3 0 14
2015– Castleford Tigers 30 10 0 2 42
Total 178 24 4 3 107
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2006–07 New Zealand 5 0 3 0 6
2008–14 Samoa 12 4 9 0 34
As of 25 September 2015
Source: Rugby League Project, Love Rugby League

Ben Roberts (born 8 July 1985) is an Australian professional rugby league player currently playing club football for the Castleford Tigers.

Background

Of Samoan descent, Roberts is the cousin of soccer players Tim Cahill and Chris Cahill. He was educated at John Therry Catholic High School, Rosemeadow, and Patrician Brothers' College, Fairfield, alongside Sharks centre Dean Collis.

Playing career

Roberts in action for the Canterbury Bulldogs

Joining the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in 2006 as a five-eighth, Roberts was originally recruited from Western Suburbs Magpies before became a regular member of the NSWRL Premier League team. In 2007 he has started in halfback in the early rounds due to injury to regular playmaker Brent Sherwin. With Sherwin's return from injury and form, Roberts was shifted to five-eighth.

He made his second international appearance for the New Zealand Kiwis on Friday 20 April at the 2007 ANZAC Test against the Australia national rugby league team in Brisbane.

He was named in the New Zealand and Samoan extended training squads for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.[3][4] In the end he was selected in the Samoan squad for the tournament.

5 years later he was selected for Samoa in April 2013, for a test match against Tonga in Penrith, New South Wales. Later in the year he was selected for Samoa again, but this time for their 2013 Rugby League World Cup campaign. He featured in all 4 games that the Samoans played, scoring two tries. He scored one try against heavyweights New Zealand in an entertaining 42–24 defeat. He scored his second try in Samoa's 38–4 thrashing of The Kumuls.

On 23 January 2014, it was announced he had signed on with the Melbourne Storm for the 2014 season.

In Round 1 of the 2014 NRL season, Roberts made his debut for the Melbourne Storm against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.

On 7 October 2014, Roberts was selected in the Samoa national rugby league team 24 man squad for the 2014 Four Nations series.[5][6]

Super League Career

On 7 July 2014, It was confirmed that Ben Roberts signed a contract to play for the Super League club Castleford Tigers in 2015.[7]

He played his first Super League game against the Catalans Dragons in the second round of the season. He scored his first Super League try against the Warrington Wolves in Round 9.

Ben has been somewhat of a utility player for Castleford in 2015. He has played stand off, centre, hooker and fullback so far.

Ben scored in Castlefords opening home fixture against Wakefield in round 2 of the 2016 season.

Club Season Super League Challenge Cup Total
AppsTriesGoalsDrop GoalsPointsAppsTriesGoalsDrop GoalsPointsAppsTriesGoalsDrop GoalsPoints
Castleford Tigers 2015 2490238100002590238
Career total 2490238100002590238

As of 25 September 2015

    References

    1. ROBERTS, BENJAMIN TAPULOA 2006 – 2007 – KIWI #727 Archived 23 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine. nzleague.co.nz
    2. "Castleford Tigers 1st Team Ben Roberts". Official Castleford Tigers web site. Castleford Tigers Rugby League Football Club Ltd. 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
    3. "Kiwis select Sonny Bill". Sky Sports. 8 August 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2008.
    4. "Samoa, Tonga and Fiji name squads". BBC. 8 October 2008. Archived from the original on 13 October 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2008.
    5. Toa Samoa name Four Nations squad. NRL.com. Retrieved on 21 September 2016.
    6. Toa Samoa name Four Nations squad. Zero Tackle (7 October 2014). Retrieved on 2016-09-21.
    7. Ben Roberts: Castleford Tigers sign Melbourne Storm playmaker – BBC Sport. Bbc.com (7 July 2014). Retrieved on 2016-09-21.

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